WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
A Multigenerational Tapestry of Faith Program
WORKSHOP 7: ISAIAH - EXILE AND HOPE
BY REV. THOMAS R. SCHADE GAIL FORSYTH-VAIL
© Copyright 2011 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/30/2014 12:29:49 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Despair? Did someone say despair was a question in the world? Well, then listen to the sons of those who have known little else if you wish to know the resiliency of this thing you would so quickly resign to mythhood, this thing called the human spirit. — Lorraine Hansberry (1930 — 1965), African American playwright and essayist, author of A Raisin in the Sun, which opened on Broadway in 1973
This workshop presents a different kind of story from the Hebrew scriptures. It is not a story in the strict sense of the word, but poetic writings from the book of Isaiah. Often referred to as the "suffering servant" passage, these words comforted a desolate and despairing people during a terrible time in exile. After 600 years of relative autonomy under King David, King Solomon, and their heirs, political tides in the region had led to the Babylonian conquest of first the northern kingdom of Israel, then the southern kingdom of Judah. In 587 BCE, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and with it the Temple of Solomon, the seat of Jewish worship life and what they understood to be the home for Yahweh, their God. In three waves, Hebrew political, religious, and cultural leaders were exiled to Babylon, leaving behind a ruined land and a depleted people.
The exile in Babylon (587 — 539 BCE) was a painful time for the Jewish people, but also a watershed time. They needed to reconstitute their faith without a state of their own, without a homeland, without their seat of worship. And they needed to make sense of their humiliation in light of their covenant with Yahweh.
The "suffering servant" passages speak of the hope for eventual redemption, when the despised and humiliated people would be redeemed, and would be restored to their homeland and their nation. In the text, the suffering person represents the nation of Israel itself, and its hope and expectation that despair and humiliation will give way to a triumphant return home.
Although this passage was composed long ago and in circumstances we no longer fully understand, the theme resonates in Western culture. It appears in beloved fairy tales like The Ugly Duckling and Cinderella, and in acclaimed children's literature, including Harry Potter. The despised one, the vilified one, the one in exile comes in the end to triumph.
This workshop asks: Who is the God of Isaiah and of the exiled Jewish people? What did a hoped for redemption look and feel like to them?
This workshop also invites participants to consider their own experiences of exile, hope, and redemption. How do we move beyond suffering and exile?
To explore this story in a multigenerational group setting requires good preparation. Participants of all ages are explicitly invited to recall stories of triumph after rejection, both in popular culture and in their own lives, before engaging with the text. The activity options explore images and feelings of exile and hope, and invite participants to think about hope in their own lives and world.
This workshop continues a pattern of activities that frame all of the workshops in this program. Congregations may wish to establish their own patterns for this series of workshops, perhaps arranging for refreshments or a meal to precede or follow each workshop.
Before leading this workshop, review the Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters found in the program Introduction and make any accommodations necessary for your group.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: The Ugly Duckling | 15 |
Activity 2: Isaiah — Exile and Hope | 15 |
Activity 3: Retelling the Story | 10 |
Activity 4: Explaining Small Group Options | 5 |
Activity 5: Discussion — Option 1 | 25 |
Activity 6: It Gets Better — Option 2 | 25 |
Activity 7: The Prophet's Scrolls — Option 3 | 25 |
Faith in Action: Making it Better Now | |
Closing | 15 |
Alternate Activity 1: Creating a Multigenerational Musical Reflection | 25 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
The "suffering servant" passage is often quoted in a Christian context as passage foretelling the coming of the Messiah. This workshop approaches the passage in its own context and on its own terms, not from the meaning later assigned to it by Christian theologians. If you are familiar with this passage, recall your first encounter with it. What meaning was ascribed to it? How did it make you feel?
Find the experiences of "exile" and "restoration" in your own life, or in the literature, film, or music of popular culture. After you have explored the emotional territory of exile and restoration, read the passage from Isaiah (the story in this workshop) aloud, paying attention to the emotions and images it evokes in you.
Reflect on how you responded (or might have responded) to this passage as an eight-year-old child, a fourteen-year-old youth, or a young adult making your way in the world. Envision the way you will think about this passage when you are an elder, looking back on your life.
Bring each person in your group into your mind and hold them in appreciative thought and/or prayer.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As people arrive, introduce yourself and invite them to make a name tag and sign in.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Bring participants together and welcome them. Invite a volunteer to light the chalice as you share a favorite children's chalice lighting used by your congregation.
ACTIVITY 1: THE UGLY DUCKLING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read or tell the story. Ask how it would have felt to be the ugly duckling, and then how it would have felt later to be a swan. Ask children and youth if they have ever had the experience of being an "ugly duckling," but do not ask them to share those stories at this time.
Then ask, "How many adults here have had the experience of being an ugly duckling, and then a swan?" Invite adults to raise hands to indicate they have had such an experience.
If there is time, invite a few people in the group to share a few words about their ugly duckling experience.
ACTIVITY 2: ISAIAH — EXILE AND HOPE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Use these or similar words to briefly set the stage for the story:
Our Hebrew scripture story today is not like the other stories we have heard. It offers words of hope to the Hebrew people when they found themselves in a very bad situation. Their nation had been conquered by the Babylonians, and many people had been brought to Babylon to live in exile. Their nation was destroyed; their temple was destroyed, and they had to figure out how to be a people without a nation or a temple. They had to find new ways to think about themselves and about their God. They called their nation in exile "Zion," and they began to call themselves "Jewish."
During that time, prophets spoke words of hope to the Hebrew people—a hope that they would one day be lifted up and would return triumphantly to their home. These are some of the most famous words in the Hebrew scriptures, words from the Book of Isaiah. I will explain any words you do not understand as I read.
Offer copies of Leader Resource 1, Isaiah — Exile and Hope Background Information, to those who wish to take it home.
Read the story aloud in three parts. Before reading the first section, say, "This is the prophet Isaiah speaking, calling the Jewish people God's servant and telling them that things will eventually get better."
Before reading the second section, say, "This is Isaiah naming all the bad things that have happened to the Jewish people."
Before reading the third section, say, "And this is Isaiah, speaking as though he were the voice of God, promising that the Jewish people would return in triumph to the land which had been taken from them."
ACTIVITY 3: RETELLING THE STORY (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Say, "The process of retelling this story will be different from what we have done with other stories. All the action is in the words of Isaiah, first talking with words of encouragement (like the mother who tried to help the ugly duckling); then telling of all the reasons for despair and sadness (like the duckling, who experiences bullying and rejection); and finally raising a triumphant voice (like those who proclaim that that the ugly duckling is really a magnificent swan). Introduce the three readers you have recruited to read the three parts, and invite everyone else to be part of the crowd of Jewish people listening to these words. Invite the crowd to act out being a people in exile, defeated and despised.
Ask the Encouraging Voice to read the first section aloud.
Ask participants:
What kind of message is here? How does it make you feel? Act out how you feel when you are having a hard time and someone is trying to help you get through it, telling you that things will get better.
Ask the Despairing Voice to read the second section aloud.
Say to participants:
Isaiah is describing the ways in which the Jewish nation, which he calls God's servant, has been mistreated. How does someone act when they are mistreated and can't do anything about it? Act out how that feels.
Ask the Triumphant Voice to read the third section aloud.
Say to participants:
Isaiah is giving the people hope that the bad times will end and they will get their land back for themselves and their children and grandchildren. Act out how it feels to hear such strong words of hope.
After the re-telling, invite participants to offer comments, observations, and insights about the passage.
ACTIVITY 4: EXPLAINING SMALL GROUP OPTIONS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain options for small processing groups and point out breakout spaces. Explain that participants may choose any of the options that appeal to them. There is not one group for children, another for youth, and another for adults. All groups can have a mix of ages. Invite at least one adult or youth participant to take part in each breakout group, and ask those volunteers to set a tone that welcomes multigenerational participation.
ACTIVITY 5: DISCUSSION — OPTION 1 (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
ACTIVITY 6: IT GETS BETTER — OPTION 2 (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain the “It Gets Better” project, noting that it was started as a way to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth who are being bullied, telling them to hold on because it will get better. Watch the video by Meg Riley and the video by Chris Tuttle.
Invite participants to create their own “It Gets Better” messages telling a personal story of when things got better, or giving good advice and support to someone who is having a difficult time. Practice saying the messages aloud, imagining that someone is taping them for television or the Internet. Optional: Use a cell phone or other videotaping equipment to record and play back the messages so participants can see them.
ACTIVITY 7: THE PROPHET'S SCROLLS — OPTION 3 (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to make their own scrolls with words describing the experiences of exile and hope. Note that while Isaiah used a scroll of animal skin, we use drawing paper and dowels. Use packing tape to attach the shorter side of a sheet of drawing paper to a dowel, and then attach a dowel to the opposite short side, so the paper can be rolled like a scroll, bringing the dowels together.
After participants create scrolls, invite them to use calligraphy pens or fine-point markers to write and draw about the experiences of exile and of hope. As time allows, share drawings with one another.
CLOSING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Create a worship service, weaving together contributions from all of the breakout groups. Do not over-script the worship service, but rather create a worshipful "container" to hold all of the insights, thoughts, feelings, creations, and contributions of participants. At the end of the worship, extinguish the chalice and read the words of Elizabeth Selle Jones, Reading 456 in the hymnbook, or choose a benediction or closing words familiar to participants. Distribute Taking It Home.
FAITH IN ACTION: MAKING IT BETTER NOW
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Watch the Making it Better Now videos produced by the UUA's Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. Arrange for a multigenerational viewing of some of the videos, followed by a multigenerational conversation about responding to bullying. Publicize the videos in your congregation's literature, and on the congregational website and/or social media page.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few minutes to talk with your co-facilitator about how the workshop went, using these questions as a guide:
TAKING IT HOME
Despair? Did someone say despair was a question in the world? Well, then listen to the sons of those who have known little else if you wish to know the resiliency of this thing you would so quickly resign to mythhood, this thing called the human spirit. — Lorraine Hansberry (1930 — 1965), African American playwright and essayist, author of A Raisin in the Sun, which opened on Broadway in 1973
With family members and trusted friends, talk about your experiences of exile and suffering and of hope and triumph. Explore more of the videos in the It Gets Better project or find examples of the themes of exile and hope in popular culture, movies, and adult and children's literature.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: CREATING A MULTIGENERATIONAL MUSICAL REFLECTION (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to create a composition using a variety of musical instruments. Work together to create the sound of exile, despair, and hopelessness, and then work together to create the sound of hope.
With younger children, you might use the instruments to illustrate the feelings of the duckling as you retell the story of the ugly duckling.
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 7:
STORY: ISAIAH — EXILE AND HOPE
Isaiah 52: 1-2, 13-15; 53: 1-8, 54: 2-4, 7-8 (New Revised Standard Version)
Awake, awake,
Put on your strength O Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments...
Shake yourself from the dust and rise up, O captive Jerusalem;
Loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter Zion!
... See, my servant will prosper;
He shall be exalted and lifted up
... So he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard
they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb he is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left,
and your descendents will possess the nations
and will settle the desolate towns.
Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace;
... For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
In overflowing wrath for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 7:
STORY: THE UGLY DUCKLING
This story is abridged from one published by Hans Christian Anderson in 1844 and translated by H.P. Paull in 1872. (Hans Christian Anderson: Fairy Tales and Stories).
It was lovely summer weather in the country. A duck was on her nest, watching for her young brood to hatch. At length one shell cracked, and then another, and from each egg came a living creature that lifted its head and cried, "Peep, peep!" "Quack, quack," said the mother, and then they all quacked as well as they could, and looked about them on every side at the large green leaves.
After a time, she asked "Are you all out?" "No, I declare," she said, "the largest egg lies there still."
At last the large egg broke, and a young one crept forth crying, "Peep, peep!" It was very large and ugly. The duck stared at it and exclaimed, "It is very large and not at all like the others. I wonder if it is a turkey. We shall soon find it out, however when we go to the water. It must go in, if I have to push it myself."
On the next day the mother duck took her young brood down to the water, and jumped in with a splash. "Quack, quack," cried she, and one after another the little ducklings jumped in. They swam about quite prettily with their legs paddling under them as easily as possible, and the ugly duckling was also in the water swimming with them.
"Oh," said the mother, "that is not a turkey; how well he uses his legs, and how upright he holds himself! He is my own child, and he is not so very ugly after all if you look at him properly. Quack, quack! Come with me now, I will take you into grand society, and introduce you to the farmyard and to the other ducks, but you must keep close to me or you may be trodden upon; and, above all, beware of the cat."
The ducklings did as they were bid, but the other ducks stared, and said, "What a queer looking object one of them is; we don't want him here," and then one flew out and bit him in the neck.
"Let him alone," said the mother; "he is not doing any harm."
"Yes, but he is so big and ugly," said the spiteful duck "and therefore he must be turned out."
The poor duckling was bitten and pushed and made fun of, not only by the ducks, but by all the poultry. "He is too big," they all said, and the turkey flew at the duckling, so that the poor little thing did not know where to go, and was quite miserable because he was so ugly and laughed at by the whole farmyard. So it went on from day to day till it got worse and worse. The poor duckling was driven about by every one; even his brothers and sisters were unkind to him, and would say, "Ah, you ugly creature, I wish the cat would get you," and his mother said she wished he had never been born. The ducks pecked him, the chickens beat him, and the girl who fed the poultry kicked him with her feet. So at last he ran away, frightening the little birds in the hedge as he flew over the palings.
"They are afraid of me because I am ugly," he said. So he closed his eyes, and flew still farther, until he came out on a large moor, inhabited by wild ducks. Here he remained the whole night, feeling very tired and sorrowful.
In the morning, when the wild ducks rose in the air, they stared at their new comrade. "What sort of a duck are you?" they all said, coming round him.
He bowed to them, and was as polite as he could be, but he did not reply to their question. "You are exceedingly ugly," said the wild ducks, "you cannot be one of our family."
The duckling remained alone in the moor, where it loved to swim and dive, but was avoided by all other animals, because of its ugly appearance. Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold. Then, as winter approached, the wind caught them as they fell and whirled them in the cold air. The clouds, heavy with hail and snow-flakes, hung low in the sky, and the raven stood on the ferns crying, "Croak, croak." All this was very sad for the poor little duckling. One evening, just as the sun set amid radiant clouds, there came a large flock of beautiful birds out of the bushes. The duckling had never seen any like them before. They were swans, and they curved their graceful necks, while their soft plumage shown with dazzling whiteness. They uttered a singular cry, as they spread their glorious wings and flew away from those cold regions to warmer countries across the sea. As they mounted higher and higher in the air, the ugly little duckling felt quite a strange sensation as he watched them. He whirled himself in the water like a wheel, stretched out his neck towards them, and uttered a cry so strange that it frightened himself. Could he ever forget those beautiful, happy birds; and when at last they were out of his sight, he dived under the water, and rose again almost beside himself with excitement. He knew not the names of these birds, nor where they had flown, but he felt towards them as he had never felt for any other bird in the world.
The winter grew colder and colder; he was obliged to swim about on the water to keep it from freezing, but every night the space on which he swam became smaller and smaller. At length it froze so hard that the ice in the water crackled as he moved, and the duckling had to paddle with his legs as well as he could, to keep the space from closing up. He became exhausted at last, and lay still and helpless, half frozen fast in the ice. It would be very sad, were I to relate all the misery and privations which the poor little duckling endured during the hard winter; but when it had passed, he found himself lying one morning in a moor, amongst the rushes. He felt the warm sun shining, and heard the lark singing, and saw that all around was beautiful spring. Then the young bird felt that his wings were strong, as he flapped them against his sides, and rose high into the air. They bore him onwards, until he found himself in a large garden, before he well knew how it had happened. The apple-trees were in full blossom, and everything looked beautiful, in the freshness of early spring. From a thicket close by came three beautiful white swans, rustling their feathers, and swimming lightly over the smooth water. The duckling remembered the lovely birds, and felt more strangely unhappy than ever.
"I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill me, because I am so ugly, and dare to approach them; but it does not matter: better be killed by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens, pushed about by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with hunger in the winter."
Then he flew to the water, and swam towards the beautiful swans. The moment they espied the stranger, they rushed to meet him with outstretched wings.
The duckling bent his head down to the surface of the water, and waited for death. But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. The great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.
Into the garden presently came some little children, and threw bread and cake into the water.
"See," cried the youngest, "there is a new one;" and the rest were delighted, and ran to their father and mother, dancing and clapping their hands, and shouting joyously, "There is another swan come; a new one has arrived."
Then they threw more bread and cake into the water, and said, "The new one is the most beautiful of all; he is so young and pretty." And the old swans bowed their heads before him.
Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wing; for he did not know what to do, he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder-tree bent down its bows into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and bright. Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 7:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: ISAIAH — EXILE AND HOPE BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This workshop presents a different kind of story from the Hebrew scriptures. It is not a story in the strict sense of the word, but poetic writings from the book of Isaiah, words that comforted a desolate and despairing people in exile.
These words, often referred to as the "suffering servant" passage, were composed and spoken at a terrible time in the life of the Jewish people. After 600 years of relative autonomy under King David, King Solomon, and their heirs, political tides in the region had led to the Babylonian conquest of first the northern kingdom of Israel, then the southern kingdom of Judah. In 587 BCE, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and with it the Temple of Solomon, the seat of Jewish worship life and what they understood to be the home for Yahweh, their God. In three waves, Hebrew political, religious, and cultural leaders were exiled to Babylon, leaving behind a ruined land and a depleted people.
The exile in Babylon (587 — 539 B.C.E.) was a painful time for the Jewish people, but it was also a watershed time. They needed to reconstitute their faith without a state of their own, without a homeland, without their seat of worship. And they needed to make sense of their humiliation in light of their covenant with Yahweh.
The "suffering servant" passages speak of the hope for eventual redemption, when the despised and humiliated people would be redeemed, and would be restored to their homeland and their nation.
The book of Isaiah, which contains this passage, was written over the course of two hundred years by a group of people more accurately described as the school of Isaiah than as a single figure. The "suffering servant" passage was most likely written between 550 and 539 BCE.
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 7:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: CREATING THE CLOSING WORSHIP
In this program, the closing worship circle offers a time for the group to come back together to enrich each other's understanding of the story and of their own life experience. This is not a show-and-tell experience, but rather a participatory, co-created worship experience. You will need to do just enough planning to provide a container for participants to share with one another and grow in spirit. You cannot script a co-created worship service, but you can guide it so that all participants feel heard and valued, and all hear and value the voices and experiences of others, regardless of age or life stage. With practice, you and the participants will become adept at co-creating worship to end each workshop.
Here are suggested elements for the closing worship for Workshop 7, Isaiah — Exile and Hope. Add, subtract, and adapt to fit your situation:
Opening music
Recording of "Bein' Green" by Joe Raposo, the Sesame Street Song writer. It was recorded by Kermit the Frog as well as many other musical artists.
Chalice lighting
Use chalice lighting words familiar to your congregation or use Reading 452 from Singing the Living Tradition.
Hymn
Hymn 279, "By the Waters of Babylon," in Singing the Living Tradition. Invite song leaders to help you sing this piece as a round.
Making Sense of Suffering
Invite the discussion group to share some of their comments and insights about suffering, exile, and hope.
Reading the Prophet's Scrolls
Invite the group who created scrolls (Activity 7) to share their words and drawings about exile and hope.
Musical Reflection
Invite the group who did Alternate Activity 1 to share their musical reflections on exile and hope. If they retold the ugly duckling story as part of their activity, invite them to share that as well.
It Gets Better
Invite the group who created "It Gets Better" messages to share what they created.
Meditation/prayer
Begin a meditation or prayer as you normally would in your congregation. Then say, "We heard stories today of people—and an ugly duckling—who were exiled, despised, bullied, and treated badly. We remember the times when we, too, have suffered, and we wonder why. We remember also the ways in which we have embraced hope and grown because of what happened to us—how we became the swan, or how we figured out how to go on despite something terrible or sad happening to us."
Then say, "Let us enter silence for a moment to remember, and then, if we are moved, speak aloud of what gives us hope. (Allow about 30 seconds of silence, and then speak your own words and invite others to do the same). May we seek help and comfort when bad things are too hard for us to bear, and may we always believe that we have the power to move beyond suffering and to grow from it—making it better—now and in the future."
End the meditation or prayer as you normally would in your congregation.
Hymn
Hymn 209, "O Come, You Longing, Thirsty Souls." Point out that the words of the hymn are from the book of Isaiah.
Closing words
Use words familiar to your congregation, or Reading 456 in Singing the Living Tradition.
FIND OUT MORE
Read the reflections of two contemporary Unitarian Universalist theologians, Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker and John A. Buehrens, on suffering and hope in A House for Hope (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1463) (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010). Beacon Press also provides a discussion guide (at www.beacon.org/client/pdfs/7738dg.pdf) for the book.